60 1 ..'" 2 , \ ,) I r 4. . rr' - ).. \..\ \ \ .' -..J ,.\ \ 4 AO ::r " " 5 , '" ..".. ?, \ " \ l : I . , ' ì 'JC \ t-ö\ lJ) ? l .... = þ- ""*" ' do it for us children, whom they had the rIght to spank and therefore could not look up to; or for Fräulein Fischer and Fräulein Thiess (who had lunch wIth us every day, and in the afternoon tutored Sonia and Filippo), because they were Germans; so they did it for the soup. And they said so. They, too (how chIldren know these things!), had great sadness in their hearts, and w hen they shouted at Vladimir for be- ing two minutes late, It was because they were so lonely for their masters, whose approval was missing, whose chairs were empty. When the two German women, who were without the dignity of the servant or the rights of the master-when these ruling servants pralsed the soup, the serving servant sneered, and com- mented on that praise in a way that was so insolent that the two ruling servants frowned and we children had to be careful not to burst into laughter. But when we children praised the soup, then -' '\ -'<<W' 6 - - the Kitchen was happy, and 'In the soup we met. Fräulein Thiess insulted the maids by asking for the saltcellar, which she shook over her plate, aiming at the food from up hIgh, as if she wished to punish it. Even the way she cut her meat or plunged her spoon into her soup was a way of refusing that food, of despising those who had prepared it with so much song. In the evening, when Fräulein Thiess was not there, Fräulein Fischer behaved like a civilized person, but at lunch she always followed Fräulein Thiess's example. And how much they ate for lunch, those two German wom- en! We children were always afraid there wouldn't be anything left on the platter for us. Huge chunks of what- ever it was, and then more, and then more, and looking carefully for the best parts while the arm of the maid shook with rage under the serving dish. "One of these days, I shall throw everything right into her face," the maid would . , ,, , .::::\ , '" , .to ... .-# ./ I {ð l J .z/l . . )""'" , );" ' , ' tell the cook ominously, later, and we were so anXIOUS to see her do it, but she never kept her promise. Fräulein Fischer and Fräulein Thiess conversed only with each other, as if they were In Germany and we were foreigners whom they were feeding out of charity. "Y ou !" Fräulein Thiess said to Vladi- mir. "Get some wine. But not just one bottle-two or three. I don't like to have to repeat this every day." And Vladimir had to go and get Father's best wine. She knew how many bottles we still had, and wanted those-not just wine from the barrel. We always felt like spitting on her chair after she left the dining room, but we could not. That chair was sacred-Mother's arm- chair, with the two lion heads and the fringe and the gray leather cushion. After a while, the maid took it away and put it in a corner, replacing it with a straight chair. But it was awful, just the same, to see that armchair being punished in a corner